Battle of Manaan
The devastation of the planet of Manaan was caused by the Sith Empire during the Great Galactic War. The Sith ravaged the world despite the avowed neutrality of the Selkath; all surface structures on the world were destroyed, forcing the surviving Selkath to retreat deep to their ocean underworld. Sith forces arrived in system almost randomly. There forces gathering in mass just beyond the Republic fleet's range. The Republic had detected the Sith forces but made no effort to engage them because they knew they were outnumbered and they could tell the Sith were waiting for something. The thing they were waiting on arrived and a sense of dread washed over the Republic forces. The Dark Fate an immense behemoth of a warship arrived, signalling the Sith fleet's advance. The battle started and the Republic found themselves almost instantly beaten. They were outgunned, outnumbered and morale was low. The Sith forces launched for a planet side battle with whatever the Selkath could muster for it's defenses. Darth Igneous led the ground assault, the Sith landing transports going completely unhindered with the Republic unable to break the Empire's lines. During the battle Igneous met and old comrade, Zulu Koth and the two fought one another. Igneous came out on top in the duel but was unable to slay his friend as a transport crashed in between the two men. Falling debris wounding Igneous and the explosion forcing Koth into the ocean. The battle would continue un-hinged. Igneous returned to the Dark Fate while the Sith forces purged Ahto City of life. Once the Dark Fate was in position, it fired it's main weapons, utterly eradicating Ahto City from the face of the planet. Shortly after the Republic forces would be forced to retreat. =The Battle:= arrival.]] While stationed at the Republic Embassy on the neutral planet of Manaan, Zulu Koth has been preparing himself for his return to the battlefield. He was very unsettled however when news reached him of the apparent death of Alexiss Lightstar and Desarus Ren Kai's disappearance from known space, despite the news he regarded it as just rumours given his personal experiences with the two rather very odd Jedi and he believed the rumours to be false as he felt a very familiar presence through the Force. Following the presence he reached the Republic's private hangar bay and stood in shock as he looked at the aftermath of a battle, the corpses of Jedi, Republic soldiers and Selkath lay strewn about the floor. Two large Republic transports lay in fiery ruins and it appeared that the Selkath's security systems had been disarmed as the city was in a deathly quiet. Zulu made a rush back to the Republic Embassy expecting the familiar presence to be Desarus here to investigate what had just happened or for some other reason but what he found was the embassy turned into the same bloodbath as the Republic's private hangar, however this time he was greeted by a masked man who's motions and mannerisms mirrored that of Desarus. The masked figure didn't reveal who he was and instead only gave the name Darth Igneous and revealed a few notes on the Sith plan which was already in motion, as Zulu continued to question Darth Igneous the final response that he gained was, "it's already too late" and Zulu could pretty much tell that what Igneous said was correct because the embassy shook violently from a bombardment as Sith Destroyers entered the atmosphere while deploying hundreds upon hundreds of Sith Fighters. After escaping the collapsing Republic embassy Zulu was thrown into the middle of a battle between the Selkath, Republic and the Sith. As he cut down a group of Sith troopers that were trying to gun down Selkath civilians he was caught off guard by Darth Igneous but was able to avoid being injured as the two entered a duel. As the long violent fight progressed, the Republic and Selkath security did there best to give Zulu assistance only to end up losing there lives while Zulu barely fended off each of the Force Inferno's that Igneous launched at him. When the fight finally came to a standstill Zulu could tell that his opponent was Desarus all he needed was proof which was given when Igneous removed his mask. Desarus' face wasn't like the usual Sith it wasn't deformed nor rotting instead it was the same as when he was a Jedi the only difference being that his eyes had turned a deep red, which Igneous called a symbol of darker power. The duel took a turn for the worst as Igneous overpowered Zulu and was on the verge of defeating the young Jedi when a civilian filled shuttle that was trying to escape was shot down, the shuttle crashed down in between the two the resulting explosion flung Zulu into the oceans while it forced Igneous to make a retreat as a small piece of durasteel had pierced his ribs. Zulu struggled against the ocean waters and the threat of Firaxan sharks until finally he lost his breath and begun to sink, he was able to use the powerful technique of Force Breath to keep himself from drowning but he was only saved from the ocean tides by a Republic Submersible, after returning to the surface, Zulu and the few Republic troops that had saved him made there way to the neutral hangar bay after finding that the Sith's private hangar bay had already been destroyed. Zulu was glad to see a freighter that was waiting there, just ready to take off a few Republic soldiers had commandeered the freighter with the help of RT-15 who had predicted the outcome of the fight early on. The group escaping in the freighter could only watch in horror as the Ahto City slowly ripped apart and started to sink to the bottom of oceans of Manaan. Finally the freighter jumped into hyperspace escaping the Sith pursuit forces and back to Corusant. =The Aftermath:= With the destruction of Ahto City, the galactic public became aware of the existence of the ''Dark Fate'' instead of it being kept a military secret. With the ensuing threat of a Sith Superweapon that could come out of nowhere and utterly destroy all life on a planet, the morale of the Galactic Republic plummeted. As a result the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order started a full scale hunt for the ''Dark Fate'', which drained large a amount of the Republic's resources and man power. Category:Battles of the Great Galactic War